Milos Raonic became the first Canadian man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals in 47 years with a five-set win over Feliciano Lopez on Monday.
The eighth seed thundered down 30 aces as he made the last eight with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(7) 6-3 win over 12th-seeded Lopez in 3hours and 5minutes on Hisense Arena.
Next up will be a quarterfinal against World No. 1 and four-time champion Novak Djokovic on Wednesday.
Raonic, nicknamed ‘The Missile’, created Canadian tennis history by becoming the first man since Michael Belkin in 1968 to win through to the quarters at the Australian Open.
He also equalled countryman Robert Powell’s feat of playing in three Grand Slam quarterfinals set back at the 1908, 1910 and 1912 Wimbledons.
“It’s great to be doing what I’m doing and that it is making a difference,” Raonic said.
“It is, I guess, part of some history, if you look really deep. But at the end of the day, at the same time, I’m always pushing myself for what I want to achieve.”
The big-serving 24-year-old, who reached the semifinals at last year’s Wimbledon, had two match points saved when he was serving for victory in the fourth set. Lopez took it to a fifth set, but Raonic broke the Spaniard in the eighth game and then blasted three straight aces on the way to serving it out in the following game.
“I’m happy with the sort of attitude that got me through,” he said.
“I stayed calm even though things weren’t always panning out how I would have liked. “I came up with the right play on my first match point. He came up with a great shot. Missed a lot of break-point opportunities, but overall I can’t complain too much.
“I fought my way through to the second week.”
81 winners
Raonic hit an extraordinary 81 winners and first served at 75 percent, winning 79 percent. His monster serve was only broken once by Lopez.
“I’m moving better. I feel like I have it within myself. I just got to bring it out,” Raonic said of his chances of progressing further in the tournament.
In the women’s section, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams stormed into the quarterfinals, overcoming fatigue to roll back the years and down sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in three gruelling sets.
The 34-year-old American finished strongly to win 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, sealing match point with an ace.
The Results:
Men (fourth round): 4-Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 7-6(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8); 5-Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt 9-David Ferrer (Esp) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
8-Milos Raonic (Can) bt 12-Feliciano Lopez (Esp) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3; 1-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Gilles Muller (Lux) 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.
Women (fourth round): 11-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; 1-Serena Williams (USA) bt 24-Garbine Muguruza (Esp) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Madison Keys (USA) bt Madison Brengle (USA) 6-2, 6-4; 18-Venus Williams (USA) bt 6-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
Mixed doubles: Second round: 1-Sania Mirza & 1-Bruno Soares bt Abigail Spears (USA) & Santiago Gonzalez (Mex) 7-5, 6-7(3), 10-8; 7-Leander Paes & 7-Martina Hingis bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp) & Pablo Andujar (Esp) 6-3, 6-1.
Junior boys: Second round: Sumit Nagal (Ind) bt Yosuke Watanuki (Jpn) 6-2, 6-3. Junior girls: Shilin Xu (Chn) bt Yadlapalli Pranjala (Ind) 6-3, 6-0.
ACE METER
Men
Raonic 99 (4)
Kyrgios 97 (4)
Isner 89 (3)
Muller 87 (4)
Lopez 86 (4)
Women
Serena 42 (4)
Pliskova 25 (3)
Keys 24 (4)
Venus 24 (4)
Vandeweghe 21 (3)
